GoDaddy Goes .XXX

Godaddy announced that it will be selling the new .XXX extension, joining approximately fifty other registrars approved by the ICM Registry and accredited by ICANN to sell the extension.

GoDaddy said it has met the requirements to provide the extension as soon as they were published and “intends to offer trademark holders and existing adult domain owners the option to register the newly approved extension during what is known as a Sunrise period beginning in early September.” During that period, trademark owners will be able to opt-out of .XXX for a one-time fee.

According to an XBIZ Research poll, 13 percent of adult business operators said that they will acquire .XXX domain names to develop and market new websites, while 22 percent said they planned .XXX purchases to protect existing brands and trademarks.

“A large number of our customers have spoken ... and there is a demand for the controversial new domain name extension — for both brand protection purposes and for new names. So what are we going to do? GoDaddy is going to give our customers what they want.”